A Transparent Eye: Frankfurt en Mein

To be thrust into the commerce of Frankfurt city after a week in the countryside was an adjustment for sure. A three hour car trip North-West and we had navigated our way through the Autobhan, across the Mein river and parked below Jan and Isabelle's third storey apartment. Jan is Sam's second eldest cousin and Isabelle his long-standing and very dear girlfriend. Jan works as the events manager at the Frankfurt Film Museum, one of many such museums that line the Mein river. Isabelle is a darling Kindergarten teacher. (yes the word is derived from the German translation) Frankfurt, we were to learn, is the Financial Capital of Germany and second only to London in terms of European commerce. Subsequently is is the only European city with an established skyline, aptly nicknamed 'Bankfurt' or 'Meinhatten'. However, the city limits remain relatively compact and it is very easy to navigate the entire breadth of the city on foot or via bicycle. Frankfurt, like Hamburg before it, encourages the use of bicycling so fervently that several government-funded companies have established bike-share depots across the city. Essentially, each depot allows for 20-30 heavy-duty bicycles to be magnetically locked. With a simple swipe of your registration card or request on your mobile phone, 2 bikes per person are unlocked and yours to ride for the next 30 minutes before you must return them to any of the hundreds of depots across the city. You can then collect 2 more bikes if your journey is not yet completed for another 30 minutes. It is an effective bike-share system that see's thousands of Frankfurt locals cruising to and from work and play on the little red bikes. It works without incident and has been adopted so well by the city and it's residents. Beside it's bicycle's, Frankfurt is famous for it's Apple Wine Bars which serves, in big blue clay jugs, a type of localy made unsweetened cider. These are always accompanied by traditional German foods, and in our case, German football games for Euro 2012. Frankfurt was also the location, obscurely though it was, for the fulfillment of a childhood dream to see Blink 182, returned from Hiatus, live in Concert. Needless to say, it was a music show never to be forgotten, one in which the events that unfolded are best described in person.

Hand-made love above the train station.

View from Jan's Apartment

Jan's fathers German-made record player complete with every Police LP, among others.

The Bridge of Locks. A strange tradition where couples come to symbolize their everlasting love by locking an engraved padlock onto the bridge and then throwing the key's into the Mein river below.